Weekend in Paris: American Flagship Lounge London, American First Class London to Miami

The bus ride from terminal five took maybe ten minutes, and after a quick security check I found myself in the maze known as terminal three.

Terminal three

I headed for the American Admirals Club (which houses the Flagship Lounge), located near the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse entrance.

Admirals Club entrance

Upon entering I was asked some ridiculous security questions by a contract worker before being allowed to talk to an American agent. The guy asked me whether I had any new electronics, what kind they were, and how much they were worth. Does this guy work in cooperation with the rampers that steal electronics from checked bags? 😉

The agent gave me a key for the Flagship Lounge, which is off to the right side.

The Flagship Lounge itself was okay, though as seems to be a theme with OneWorld first class lounges, felt more like a business class lounge. The furnishings were nice enough and the snack selection was decent, similar to the breakfast spread you would expect in a nice hotel club lounge.

The issue was that it was incredibly crowded, to the point that it was tough to find a spot to sit, at least in any sort of semi-privacy. Instead I sat next to a guy that was making Skype calls to just about possible loved one imaginable.

At around 9AM I headed to my departure gate for boarding, which was gate 35.

As is the norm at Heathrow, it was quite a haul, and took the better part of 15 minutes to get to the gate.

Heading to departure gate

They must have started boarding early because I was among the last to board. The agent working the gate said “have a nice flight, buddy” as I boarded… that’s a first for me in Europe.

Once aboard I turned left towards the first class cabin and settled into 3A, where an amenity kit and Bose noise canceling headphones were waiting for me.

Seat 3A

Ottoman

Cabin view

I could almost immediately tell it would be a great flight thanks to the great purser, Dave.

Admittedly he’s not everyone’s style, though what impressed me about him was his ability to tailor his service to each individual passenger. The crowd in first wasn’t very business-like, so he was full of jokes.

There was an older couple seated in front of me that were taking pictures of each other, so Dave went up to them and said “want me to take a picture of you two? The first one’s free.” It probably doesn’t sound funny as I write this, but it was all in the delivery.

As soon as I settled in I was offered a pre-departure beverage by Dave, and went with an orange juice. Shortly thereafter he offered me the lunch menu.

Pre-departure orange juice

Menu

The captain came on the PA at this point to advise us of our flight time of 8hr48min, anticipating an early arrival.

Shortly thereafter the gentleman seated behind me, the only traditional “business traveler” in the cabin, asked Dave where the power outlet was. Dave explained that you needed one of the adapters, though the passenger responded with “well, how am I supposed to work?” Dave told him there was a British Airways flight an hour or two later that he might be able to switch to, though finished with “but it’s Sunday, you should take the day off. You deserve it, I’m sure.”

At this point Dave took lunch orders, along the lines of “Ben, what do you think of my wife’s menu? She’s in the kitchen today, so what do you want her to fix you up?” I thought he was joking, though his wife was in fact working the first class galley.

As we taxied out Dave came by my seat to make some movie suggestions, entirely unsolicited. Dave recommended “Just Go With It,” starring Adam Sandler and Jennifer Anniston, so I decided to watch that.

View

After the safety demo we pushed back and started our quick taxi to the runway, where we only had about a five-minute wait before we took off.

Shortly after takeoff

View after takeoff

Entertainment system

Movie selection

Leveling off

About 30 minutes into the flight the seatbelt sign was turned off and service began starting with hot towels.

In addition to Dave and his wife was another chatty older lady working first class, who was equally awesome. She smiled at every interaction, and couldn’t have been any “warmer.”

She started by offering veggies and hot nuts, along with drinks of choice. I ordered a Diet Coke with lime and LOTS of ice, at which point she relayed a story about the first time her mom flew to Europe, and how on the flight back she was craving ice due to the lack of it in Europe. Like I said, definitely on the chatty side, though friendly as could be.

Diet Coke, hot nuts, and veggies

Dave came out with the appetizer cart, which was identical to what they served as the appetizer on the outbound. Since Dave was a funny guy I couldn’t help but comment “talk about poor man’s caviar,” given how the presentation is so similar to a caviar service… minus the caviar. Dave responded “yeah, I guess Al Qaeda must have liked caviar, cause they took that with them on 9/11.” Dave also convinced me to have a glass of champagne with lunch, which he constantly insisted on topping off.

For dessert was an ice cream sundae. Instead of asking me what I wanted on it, Dave said “you’ve gotta trust me on this one Ben, let me give you the Margaret Thatcher special.” I played along, and sure enough it was rather tasty, though seemed to have as much alcohol in it as ice cream!

Ice cream sundae

After lunch I was offered a bottle of water.

Bottled water

Shortly thereafter the cabin lights were dimmed so I decided to take a nap for a few hours.

I changed into more comfortable clothes in the lavatory, at which point Dave introduced me to his wife — “Marge, I wanted you to meet Ben, he’s a drug dealer from Tampa. He wanted to tell you how good your cooking was.” ROFL!

I woke up with about two hours to go to Miami, at which point Dave appeared to see if I wanted anything.

Lights out after lunch

After watching a sitcom, the pre-arrival meal was served. The menu for that read as follows:

Pre-Arrival BeverageFor Your Enjoyment
Chilled sparkling or still water with a fresh citrus garnish

I was mildly intrigued by the pizza, so went with that. While it’s incredibly trashy to serve pizza in first class (in my opinion), I’ve gotta be honest – it wasn’t half bad. It was supposed to be served with a salad, though due to the E coli outbreak that was replaced with a plate of grapes. There was also a bowl of fresh fruit and an oatmeal raisin cookie.

Uno’s Spinach and Garlic Pizza

About 30 minutes before landing sparking water and mints were served.

Chilled sparkling or still water with a fresh citrus garnish

Around this time the captain came on the PA to provide us with updated arrival information and also advise us that the seatbelt sign would be turned on shortly.

Airshow

Airshow

Miami Airport

After a smooth descent we touched down a few minutes ahead of schedule and taxied to our arrival gate, where everyone had to board a shuttle to get to customs and immigration.

Fortunately the line at immigration was short so I was through in no time, and ready for my two connecting flights before finally making it home.

This flight was awesome. There are lots of personalities out there. You have jokers like Dave or more “serious” guys like Terrence. Both are awesome in different ways.

In this day and age of “flight attendants being there primarily for our safety,” I love being served by anyone that obviously loves their job and shows it, and it was clear that Dave does. At the end of the flight I couldn’t help but pay him a compliment and say “you really seem to love your job,” to which he responded “are you kidding me? I get to fly around the world with my wife and even get paid for it — what could be better?”

It’s time for a reader photo. Thanks to gobluetwo for sending in this one. Correct Answer: Zurich, Switzerland Winner: Daniel If you’d like your photo featured, please email it to me at onemileatatime@hotmail.com, along with the correct answer.

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About luckyBen Schlappig (aka Lucky) is a travel consultant, blogger, and avid points collector.
He travels about 400,000 miles a year, primarily using miles and points to fund his first class experiences.
He chronicles his adventures, along with industry news, here at One Mile At A Time.

I think I’ve read reviews of flights with Dave and his wife on Flyertalk and/or Milepoint. I hope you send a message to AA complimenting him. You’re absolutely right that good FAs can make or break a flight. Hope I get to fly with Dave someday!

Sound like you had a good flight and a good FA, but the comments made to the “business traveller” behind you is what makes US carriers a weaker option. I don’t know if LH/LX/BA or SQ/CX/JL FA would have talked to a customer this way, which might make us laugh when reading on a blog, but is really showing that service in the US doesn’t exist anymore (class less society!)…

@ TheBeerHunter — I’ll have to try to find that. Would love to hear about other experiences of people flying with him!

@ david — I didn’t relay the entire conversation as it went on for over five minutes, but I thought Dave did a fairly good job. He promised to check if someone had a spare adapter, agreed it was ridiculous that they don’t have any onboard, and apologized. He just ended with “it’s a Sunday, take the day off” with a smile on his face.

@ Kris — I believe the story was that he once had Margaret Thatcher as a passenger and he claims that’s exactly how he served it to her. I believe…

@ Curious George — I had visited the BA lounge in T3 a couple of weeks prior and wasn’t all that impressed by it, so since I only had a short layover figured I’d hit up the Flagship Lounge so that I could make an informed decision in the future.

@Lark
From what Lucky said, it seems Dave would have picked up from your attitude not to be so funny, and would have been more professional with you…I could be wrong, maybe he’s like that with everyone, but that’s the impression I got from Lucky…

As for the pizza in FC, I can see it as a snack, though not as one of the main meals.

The T3 Galleries First is head and shoulders above the Flagship Lounge. I’m surprised you don’t like it. I think it’s the best OW lounge after the SYD/MEL F Lounges, T5 GF and The Wing/Pier (only due to the cabanas/day rooms, I find the lounges themselves underwhelming).

The SYD/MEL F lounges are the gold standard in Oneworld though. I prefer them to the Concorde Room, which of course isn’t even a OW lounge.

@ Andy — Exactly. He didn’t talk that way to the “business traveler” behind me, and interacted with each passenger differently. The reason for the drug dealer comment was that we had been talking earlier and I explained I was about to go crazy cause it was my fourth time transiting Heathrow in less than two weeks, and he said “what are you, a drug dealer or something?” I simply responded with “something like that.”

@ BrewerSEA — You’ve gotta try out the Star Alliance, my friend! As much as I love OneWorld, their first class lounges are so far behind Star Alliance that it’s frightening. The Qantas lounges are nice, but other than that I see nothing that rivals any of the top Star Alliance lounges.

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